This year we will be celebrating the Girl Scout Leadership Experience at
the annual meeting.The scheduling of
this meeting is always a challenge.The
annual meeting is set on the same weekend each year, but the date of Easter changes.Between Easter and the different spring
breaks on school calendars across our council, we can never find the perfect
weekend for everyone.With that said, we
will still celebrate what we are about: GIRLS!

GIRLS
are simply amazing. And GSSA girls are REALLY
amazing. We have a robotics team that,
despite being a new group, has done well at competitions. We have girls who go out in the woods on a
regular basis and learn skills they will use for a lifetime. We have lots of girls who sold lots of
cookies this year. Some who didn't
speak up before can now confidently approach strangers with a sales pitch -- a
young budding entrepreneur.

Many
of our girls drop out of Girl Scouts at age 11. And what experiences they miss by doing so! Those girls who do continue the Girl Scout
Leadership Experience become exceptional individuals. They are skilled in many life skills. Of those who continue, we award 90 Bronze Awards
each year. This is usually earned by troops
who do great projects. We have about 40
girls earn the Silver Award each year.
And last, but certainly not least, this past year we have seven girls
who have earned the Gold Award.

We
thought we would highlight the young women who have earned the Gold Award and who
will be presented their award at the annual meeting at Wehle Conservation
Center on March 29.

Elizabeth
Schloss is from Prattville. She is finishing her freshman year at Auburn, where
she plays xylophone in the band. For her
Gold Award project, Elizabeth set up tutoring sessions for Hispanic kids. She
involved her Beta club at school and held sessions at a local church after
Spanish mass. Elizabeth said one of the most successful aspects for her was
that the parents started coming with their kids, so she ended up with adults
being tutored as well as kids. Also, a principal at a local elementary school
heard about her project and asked her to come and do after school tutoring at
the elementary school.

Adrienne
Spivey is from Montgomery, where she is a senior at Montgomery Catholic
Preparatory School. Adrienne's Gold
Award project involved educating children about Alzheimer's disease. She
created and produced a video to help children understand changes they may see
in their elderly relatives and feel more confident interacting with them.
Adrienne has these words for girls who are thinking about going for the Gold
Award: "Taking on a serious Girl Scout project could seem impossible. Think
about the difference you will make by doing it, though. Think about the lives
you'll change. Think about how you'll be campaigning for something you not only
believe in, but that you created. This project may seem overwhelming, and even
be a bit challenging at times, but the outcome and the rewards are worth it
all."

Ann
Claire Carnahan is a senior at UMS-Wright in Mobile. Ann Claire worked with staff and volunteers
at Keep Mobile Beautiful to create and promote a website for their
organization. Keep Mobile Beautiful is a city of Mobile department that
operates as a not-for-profit environmental organization and depends heavily on
volunteers. Ann Claire designed and built a website, and used social media and
presentations to bring awareness to the public about the services that Keep
Mobile Beautiful offers. Ann Claire offers this advice to girls interested in
going for the Gold: "I would advise girls to align themselves with a community
organization that already has a need you can work towards fixing. Listening to
the organization's needs gave me the framework I needed to construct an
airtight, meaningful project."

These
young women (and all the others who have earned awards this year) are
outstanding examples of why we work hard, and why we celebrate girls.

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September 30, 2011 is the deadline for all Bronze and Silver Awards
using the old Studio 2B requirements. Paperwork must be received in the council
office no later than September 30, 2011.
This is a GSUSA deadline, and we cannot extend it.

Also, the age levels for awards using the new requirements are
different. Juniors working on the Bronze Award under the new requirements have
until September 30 of their 6th grade year to finish. Cadettes
working on the Silver Award under the new requirements have until September 30
of their 9th grade year to finish.

If you have any questions about the old or new awards requirements,
please contact Mary Anne Brutkiewicz or Jeannie Napper.

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The end of the school year is quickly approaching, and with it comes Girl Scout award ceremonies. Please remember that Bronze, Silver and Gold award paperwork must be turned into the council for review in order to purchase award pins.

Send planners to Jeannie Napper at the Mobile Service Center. If you have any questions, contact Jeannie or Mary Anne Brutkiewicz at 251-344-3330 (or 800-239-6636), ext. 1202. If you are interested in having representation from the council at your ceremony, please contact Jeannie or Mary Anne at least a week before the event. We love to attend ceremonies to see the culmination of the girls' hard work!

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We have received many questions lately about deadlines for Girl Awards, especially in view of the fact that we are still in transition to the new Journey Awards. Girls who are completing their awards under the 2006 Studio 2B standards (planners currently available on the GSSA Website) have absolute deadlines for all completed and approved paperwork:

Bronze- September 30 of the year the girl enters 7th grade

Silver- September 30 of the year the girl enters 10th grade

Gold -September 30 after the girl graduates from high school

Please note that the absolute deadline for all completed and approved paperwork for all of these awards is September 30, 2011.

Girls who are working on awards under the new Journey standards have absolute deadlines for all completed and approved paperwork:

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Troop 8153 is working on their Girl Scout Bronze Award, and as part of their project they created a billboard to educate people about spaying their pets.The billboard is in Mobile on Highway 98 near Wolf Ridge Road.Check it out, if you have a chance!

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Troops and girls interested in earning girl awards this year will need to contact Mary Anne Brutkiewicz (extension 1202) and notify her of your intent to begin. On-line training for Girl Scout Silver and Gold awards will be ready soon. New requirements using Journeys have been released by GSUSA and will be implemented this Fall. If you have questions about which award plan is best for you, please contact Mary Anne, and she'll be happy to put you on the road to the Gold (or Silver, or Bronze).

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As the end of the Girl Scout year approaches, many troops and service units are having awards banquets and receptions and girls are receiving Gold, Silver and Bronze Girl Scout Awards at special ceremonies. We have had many thoughtful requests for council staff to attend these special events, and we are happy to do so. However, we ask that, due to the volume of events, you send your invitation to us no later than two weeks in advance. We want to attend as many of these special events as possible and this will allow us to do so. We look forward to sharing in the celebration of your girls' many accomplishments with you and their families!

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Spring and the closing of the school year is a very busy time for everybody, including the Girl Scouts. Many girls are in the process of finishing awards and want to be recognized for their hard work and dedication to making their community a better place.Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama is very proud of all of these young ladies and want to see them complete their awards successfully within the required time frame.Please keep the following deadlines in mind:

·Bronze Awards must be completed and all paperwork submitted to the council before September 30 of the girl's 7th grade year

·Silver awards must be completed and approved by the council before September 30 of the 10th grade year

·Gold Awards must be completed and approved by the council before September 30 of the calendar year the girl graduates or turns 18.

Although we do not approve Bronze Awards, girls are required to submit them to the council.Please make sure that the girls fill out their planners completely in their own words.

Please keep in mind that Silver awards must be approved by the council before awarding them.Gold awards must be approved by a committee and the council before planning the awards ceremony.The council asks that paperwork on these awards be submitted two months ahead of the awards ceremony. This is to leave ample time in case the girl has to revise or make additions to her project.Should this present a problem, please contact Mary Anne Brutkiewicz for advice at 800-239-6636, ext: 1202.

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We'd like to thank Troop 9349 from Enterprise, Alabama, who spent months making quilts to present to Ft. Ruckers soldiers who have served overseas as part of their Bronze/Silver Award Projects. Working with a local quilt shop, they learned sewing and quilting skills, had lots of fun, and took pride in creating a project from planning to completion. They were part of a special ceremony to present quilts to the soldiers -- one of whom was the father of one of the quilting Girl Scouts!